{"id":254,"date":"2011-05-14T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2011-05-14T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","slug":"","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/?p=254","title":{"rendered":"Pax Christi International on Human Rights Violations in Syria"},"content":{"rendered":"

\nPax Christi International on Human Rights Violations in
\nSyria<\/strong><\/a>\n<\/p>\n

\nWritten Statement addressed to the Human Rights Council<\/strong><\/a>\n<\/p>\n

\n30 May – 17 June 2011\n<\/p>\n

\n17th Session – Item 3\n<\/p>\n

\nPax Christi, the international Catholic peace movement, with
\nmore than 100 member organisations active worldwide; is contacting the Human
\nRights Council to raise deep concern about the situation of peaceful activists
\nin Syria. Pax Christi International has member organisations as well as active
\nworking relationships with groups in the region and has addressed the UN and
\nthe Human Rights Council on several occasions concerning the situation in the
\nMiddle East.\n<\/p>\n

\nPax Christi International expresses deep concern over the
\nsevere repression by the Syrian government of the peaceful protests that
\nstarted on 15 March 2011 demanding the release of political prisoners, then
\ncontinued to spread from the southern city of Daraa to all parts of the
\ncountry. Tens of thousands have taken to the streets in scores of cities and
\ntowns across the country calling for freedom, with the largest protests in
\nHoms, Banias, Daraa and Damascus suburbs like Douma and Mouadhamiyyeh. Mass
\nshootings of peaceful marchers have occurred every few days since then.\n<\/p>\n

\nSyria has for years been suffering from chronic and
\nsystematic violations of civil and political rights by the State. Many
\npolitical opposition- and pro-democracy-activists in Syria face arbitrary
\narrest, administrative detention, unfair trials, torture and ill treatment as
\nwell as other human rights violations due to the curtailing of actual freedom
\nof expression, association, and movement as well as emergency laws. Many of
\nthese violations continue, despite the fact that the emergency situation was
\nofficially lifted last month.\n<\/p>\n

\nUse of lethal force against peaceful protesters\n<\/p>\n

\nAmnesty International has compiled the names of 580
\nprotesters and others killed since mid-March ; the injuries in head and chest
\nof those killed point at a shoot-to-kill policy. On Good Friday 22 April,
\nSyrian security forces killed at least 120 people. Subsequently, international
\nhuman rights organisations stated that president Bashar al-Assad and other
\nmembers of the regime should be held accountable and that the case should be
\ntransferred to the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court.  <\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nCollective punishment\n<\/p>\n

\nThe Government of Syria responded to the protestors’ calls
\nfor freedom in massive brutality and oppression. On March 23, security forces
\nopened fire on crowds in Daraa and enforced a siege since the 25 April. Since
\nthen Deraa was cut off from electricity, phone and water for two weeks, after
\ntroops and tanks attacked the city to restore government control.  <\/span>Similarly; military actions were taken
\nagainst Homs, Douma, Harasta, Mouadhamiyyeh and the town of Banias. Security
\nforces were reported to have moved into the central city of Homs , where troops
\nbacked by tanks have been raiding houses and arresting people since Saturday
\nMay 7th night.  <\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nSecurity forces are continuing their efforts to crush
\nanti-government protests through collective punishment measures of city
\nclosures, water, electricity and communication lines cut off, food and medical
\nsupplies blockage from entering the besieged cities and towns. According to
\nAmnesty International, “The Syrian authorities are tightening the vice on residents
\nof cities around Syria, punishing whole populations in their attempt to stamp
\nout opposition”.  <\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nMass arrests\n<\/p>\n

\nPax Christi International would also like to draw the HRC’s
\nattention to the situation of deliberate and systematic mass arrests, arbitrary
\nand incommunicado detentions and enforced disappearances of people who are
\nsuspected of having taken part in the protest movement. The Syrian security
\nforces are leading a crackdown against bloggers, journalists, political
\nactivists, human rights activists and physicians .\n<\/p>\n

\nAccording to human rights organisation Insan, since
\nmid-March nearly 8,000 people have been detained, of whom several hundred have
\ndisappeared.  <\/span>Allegations of torture
\npractices have been widely reported by various International human rights
\norganizations as well as activists and bloggers .\n<\/p>\n

\nIndependent media blocked\n<\/p>\n

\nSince the protests started, Syrian authorities have denied
\naccess to independent media. A number of journalists have been arrested,
\nincluding Al-Jazeera’s Dorothy Parvaz. Others were told to leave the country
\nupon ending of their visas. This has led to a total media blackout. The only
\ninformation coming out comes from the official media or from human rights- and
\nopposition activists. Because of the mass arrests and repression- including
\ncutting of phone lines and internet connections and arresting those who have
\nsatellite phones- it becomes harder and harder to verify and distribute
\ninformation for these activists.\n<\/p>\n

\nLack of cooperation with UN\n<\/p>\n

\nThe establishment of the fact-finding mission by the Human
\nRights Council was an important step. However, the Syrian government blocked
\nthe fact finding mission established by the Human Rights Council’s 29 April
\nresolution access to Deraa on 9 May. It also declined access to a UN mission
\ncarrying food and medical supplies to the besieged Daraa on May 10 and 11.\n<\/p>\n

\nRecommendations\n<\/p>\n

\nIn light of these facts, Pax Christi International
\nunderlines the importance of the work of the UN Human Rights Council and calls
\non its members to take the following measures:\n<\/p>\n

\n•             <\/span>Urge the
\nSyrian authorities to put an immediate stop to the oppression and military
\noperations against peaceful protestors;\n<\/p>\n

\n•             <\/span>Call for
\nthe immediate and unconditional release of all who were arbitrarily detained
\nduring the protests and of all prisoners of conscience;\n<\/p>\n

\n•             <\/span>Urge the
\nSyrian authorities to ensure freedom of movement and of operations of UN
\nagencies in all Syria;\n<\/p>\n

\n•             <\/span>Demand
\nthat Syrian authorities cooperate with the fact-finding mission established by
\nthe Human Rights Council’s 29 April resolution, and to guarantee full and free
\naccess to all the locations;\n<\/p>\n

\n•             <\/span>Urge the
\nSyrian authorities to reform legislation, so as to meet international human
\nrights standards, including incorporating human rights treaties in the national
\nlaws, and strengthen law enforcement and the rule of law;\n<\/p>\n

\n•             <\/span>Establish
\na United Nations investigation into allegations of crimes against humanity\n<\/p>\n

\n•             <\/span>Mandate a
\ntemporary UN Human Rights Observers mission in Syria;\n<\/p>\n

\n•             <\/span>Mandate
\nthe Special Rapporteurs for Human Rights Defenders and for Torture, and later
\nalso other Special Rapporteurs such as the Special Rapporteur on Freedom of
\nAssociation, to visit and report on the situation in Syria, and that the Syrian
\nauthorities fully cooperate with them and facilitate the visit;\n<\/p>\n

\n•             <\/span>Mandate
\nthe Committee on Torture to look specifically into the issue of systematic
\ntorture during these protests;\n<\/p>\n

\n•             <\/span>Urge
\nSyrian authorities allowing access by the international media.\n<\/p>\n

\n2011-0269-en-me-HR<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\nPax Christi International on Human Rights Violations in
\nSyria<\/strong><\/a>\n<\/p>\n

\nWritten Statement addressed to the Human Rights Council<\/strong><\/a>\n<\/p>\n

Pax Christi, the international Catholic peace movement, with
\nmore than 100 member organisations active worldwide; is contacting the Human
\nRights Council to raise deep concern about the situation of peaceful activists
\nin Syria. Pax Christi International has member organisations as well as active
\nworking relationships with groups in the region and has addressed the UN and
\nthe Human Rights Council on several occasions concerning the situation in the
\nMiddle East.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":34,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-254","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/34"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=254"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=254"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=254"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=254"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}